Posted on 07/29/2013 5:32:58 PM PDT by B4Ranch
1. Bingo
2. Bingo
3. Bingo
4. Bingo
5. Very bad, but maybe not as much the cause as 1 - 4.
Now, NASCAR is just Indy, or Formula 1, or [insert class here] with a different body style and engine specs.
“It’s become a rich man’s sport.”
Well, to be fair auto racing has always been a rich man’s sport. “Speed costs money; how fast do you want to go?”
As far as the have-nots in the sport go, I remember hearing that Wendell Scott would flat-tow his car to the track, pull the motor from his tow vehicle and drop it into the car, run the event, swap the motor back into the tow vehicle and go home. You can’t even THINK of doing that in today’s NASCAR.
“Now, NASCAR is just Indy, or Formula 1”
No. NASCAR is NOT Formula 1. The cars aren’t nearly as sophisticated, the recent addition of EFI notwithstanding (btw, the control system for the fuel injection is produced by McLaren), and the drivers are just a teensy bit less whiny.
“Fortunately, they all sell their old cars to people like us and we can race their old stuff just like the old days on local tracks like the one a few miles from me.”
This isn’t limited to oval-track racing. I’m an SCCA member and I’ve seen quite a few retired stock cars (mostly ASA and lower-tier NASCAR cars) running our club races in GT1 and Super Production.
I think he was talking about Indy, not NASCAR...
“Most? Only 2 out of 57 Sprint Cup drivers are not Americans.”
My post was referring to the Indy 500, not NASCAR.
I’ve been saying for years that NASCAR should dump restrictor plates and just go to smaller engines for the “big” tracks. Of course I don’t know what it would cost them to develop an entirely different motor for Daytona and Talladega, but I do know they have to make a few changes to make the existing motors work with the restrictor.
OTOH, I’m a fan of racing, not crashing*. And I realize that my “solution” might improve the former and give the low-info fans less of the latter and cause them to lose interest.
* Along this line, I find road-course racing interesting for basically the same reason a lot of NASCAR fans think it’s boring, namely, because it isn’t easy to pass. You have to plan ahead to pass someone, usually several laps ahead.
“I’m calling BS on your little factoid.”
Franchitti - Scotland
Kanaan - Brazil
Castroneves - Brazil
Hidaki- Japan
Several are from England. A couple of them are from Australia. One is from New Zealand. One is from South Africa. A Brazilian female is in the mix. The list goes on and on or would you like for me to give to you a complete breakdown by country?
Even if you say that “They are now American citizens,” I do not consider them to be Americans. They are foreigners, period. They were born in foreign countries and their hearts are still in their home countries. Therefore, they are foreigners. We do not need anymore of that sort.
Maybe in your world the U.N. should rule. Not in mine.
” Foreign drivers have run Indy almost since the beginning;”
Yes, I am aware of that. However, if you look at history, in the 60s there was an influx of foreigners.
“Most? Only 2 out of 57 Sprint Cup drivers are not Americans.”
And, of course, we all know that Montoya was brought into NASCAR to attract the Central and South American crowd. He hasn’t done much of anything in NASCAR except cry and complain.
“He hasn’t done much of anything in NASCAR except cry and complain.”
So I guess wrecking cars doesn’t count for anything? ;)
As for the crying and complaining, he perfected that during his CART and F1 days.
Yup. Quite a few of them came in because Indy paid a lot of money; when Jim Clark took second in the 1963 race he earned more from that one race than he had earned in his entire Formula One career up to that point (and by this time he’d already won his first World Driving Championship).
And it seems that the money was just better in the US at that time, period. For most of the years that the USGP was held at Watkins Glen, it offered the highest purse on the F1 schedule. This was all prior to the original Concorde Agreement.
Yes, I understand. Perhaps a different phrasing: “NASCAR has lost what made it distinctive. All the cars look alike, etc., etc...”
I’m involved as a race official, not as a competitor. I did run a couple races last year in a Formula Vee, and I’d gladly do it again if the money were there.
Prior to that, I did many years of autocross. But I never had the budget to compete at the National level, and after a while it got to a point where I just didn’t enjoy it anymore.
Interestingly, you named the most popular drivers on the Indy circuit.
But your view of the foreign drivers ruining Indy doesn't hold up. If you've been a fan of Indy long enough, you'll recall that a major driving force behind the formation of the IRL was that young, american drivers coming up in USAC couldn't find rides with major teams. Guys like Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kenny Schrader, who became NASCAR stars, were all USAC drivers. So one of the main ideas behind IRL was to allow opportunity to US drivers. Unfortunately, we all know how the split with CART turned out for Indy car.
The Indy 500 is the biggest race in the world. It's always attracted a lot of foreign drivers, and it always will. It's a world-wide race. That's the attraction of it.
The irony of the past two decades is that before, all the young drivers grew up in USAC and then went to NASCAR when they couldn't get a ride at Indy. Now, when the money has dried up in NASCAR, all the best young drivers are turning to Indy where they can get rides. I expect that in the next 5-10 years, you'll see NASCAR suffer a problem with a lack of quality young drivers (much like Indy had 10 years ago) as they are all in open wheel.
NASCAR went PC a number of years ago. They recently had a feature about a gay driver & how great it is to be “inclusive.” A good portion of the people on their shows are female & are only there because they are female. It is like someone forced them to become PC. Also every other sentence is about how great NASCAR is & the sentences in between refer to sponsors. I understand the economics of it all but it has become overbearing for me. I barely watch any more. Besides there is always a rerun of NCIS or Pass Time on.
Um, by Hidaki, you don’t mean Takuma Sato, do you?
Aside from the PC infestation, another reason I don’t watch NASCAR now is that it’s become All Danica, All The Damn Time. I had my fill of that when Princess Sparkle Pony was driving Indy cars.
I started drag racing in 1963 & even then the saying was “if you want to become a millionaire in racing start with a billion” or something like that. It has never & will never change. It costs big bucks to race.
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